Saved by a steering wheel

[Gord Baker]

You are extremely fortunate to escape death or injury from that mishap.
Reflect on that often.

 

[jgoodma1]

I was pushing a downed tree with my grapple when it snapped back. The only thing that save me was it was stopped by the steering wheel

Lesson learned

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Glad you are OK. Could you please explain in a little more detail how this happened? The way I woiuld interpret your photos is that the tree had fallen. The trunk seems higher on the left side, where I presume the root ball is located. I'm thinking that you moved in to grab the trunk with your grapple with the intent of lifting it and then maybe cutting the trunk again to the left of the grapple to disconnect it from the remainder of the trunk and the root ball. Is that description, or something similar, correct? Please explain what occurred that the tree trunk jumped over the grapple (is that correct?) and ended up on the steering column. I have some pretty big down-fallen trees in a streambed behind my house that I want to cut up and haul out. I do not have a grapple but do have a heavy duty fork attachment that I'll be using. I want to be very sure I take all potential hazzards into account. I live in Raleigh, NC and back in 1996, Hurricane Fran blew through here and caused lot's of damage. An inexperienced homeowner nearby had a bunch of big fallen pines in his yard and he bought himself a chainsaw and was promptly killed when he cut off a fallen trunk and the tree stood back up and hit him. I have a good amount of experince with this type of job, but I want to make sure I'm not missing any safety issues I should be aware of. Thanks very much.

 

[Rockbadchild]

good thing your tractor as a steering wheel

 

[RalphVa]

Fortunate. My wife wasn't so a week ago Sunday. She was taking down a dead tree and had cut a grape vine that went from it to a deer stand. She missed a small one in the canopy over to another tree. She cut it, and it immediately snapped back and broke her upper left leg. She lay there for a little over 2 hours before I went down supposedly for the two of us to take a hike. Had to go back to the house and to call 911. Then drove the tractor down to show them them the way.

 

[4570Man]

Trees are a lot more dangerous than most people realize. Ladders and chainsaws never go together and attempting to push trees with anything less than a 4 post canopy is really asking for trouble. Especially standing dead trees.

 

[RidgeHiker]

Glad you are safe.
Seems like it generally would be safer to pull trees with the drawbar rather than pushing from the front. If you are creating tension it probably would snap back away from you plus you have the ROP between you and the tree. You also can be significantly further from the tree.
Of course one needs to be careful not to create a situation where a cable could not break or release and snap back at you. Also it requires attaching the cable to the tree which can have it's own risks in jumbled piles, etc.

 

[Jchonline]

Thanks for sharing this Andy. Always good for us all to have a reminder. This stuff is dangerous and the forces at work snap bones like twigs.

Be safe out there everyone!

 

[RancherGuy]

Thanks for all the comments. Yes I was lucky. 50 plus years tractor experience and yes it was close

No more pushing big trees

I had no idea it was spring loaded

Andy

You said it right - bending wood is like bending a spring.

Once I was in my cab tractor on the outskirts of the woods with a batwing. One limb caught the loader arms. As the limb slipped over the arms, it slapped my side door/window, shattering it.

Another issue is that dead trees can fall apart.

I hired a D6 dozer to shape dirt for a few hours. When he was done, I asked him if he would down some dead but standing trees. I pointed out each, one by one. He approached one of them with his blade high, but the tree would not budge. When he backed up, the tree "whipped", sending down a big limb from the top. It landed on the solid steel sheet over his ROPS, creating a very loud bang, causing him to duck and wince. He signaled to me that he was done. I didn't blame him.

 

[deere5105]

Had the same thing happen to me mowing woods road except was using bucket. Was mowing along and came upon a small tree across road. Without even stopping, tilted bucket down and positioned it to contact tree and began pushing it around into the woods. Right when I was stopping I saw it coming over the bucket. It followed the loader arms across the hood. Threw my hands up to shield it and it hit the steering wheel and bent it over and pinned my legs. Was able to get out from under it. Was about $2500 repair if I remember correctly. Something I have done a thousand times. Got my attention for sure. Glad you weren’t hurt.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Wow! Glad you are ok! Things happen fast.

 

[rolamy]

Learning a lot here thanks

 

[beenthere]

Hope you know what you did wrong, and how not to do it another time. If you don't know, ask for some advice.

 

[OldPaint]

Looking at the photo, you'd obviously sawed on it some. Can I ask why you stopped cutting, and where you were trying to push it to from the canopy end? Casual observation tells me you were just trying to break the top out and push it back to the edge of the brush. While much quicker, I think you just found out that not cutting it before pushing on it was definitely not the safest sequence. Just because you think you can move something with the tractor doesn't mean you SHOULD move it without making more manageable pieces.

Rule of thumb that I learned as a kid driving a Cub Farmall: if the piece you are pushing or pulling sideways is more than twice the width of the tractor, and you're not EXACTLY centered, you're flirting with disaster. I balanced that Cub on the two left wheels more than once doing silly things. I know it's a bit of a bother, and will take a little longer, but it's a whole lot safer to move smaller pieces. If the root ball is still attached to that trunk, be extremely careful that the last cut doesn't change the balance and let the trunk stand back up. There's nothing like hearing that "WHOOSH" when a 24 inch tree trunk goes past you. The first cut should have been near the stump. Unless a tree is laying completely on the ground and already detached from the stump, it simply isn't safe to start cutting the top or trying to move it. Big end first, where most of the mass is, and separate it from it's counterweight (root ball).

Glad you dodged the bullet there, or the club as the case may be. This would be one case where a ROPS isn't going to help unless it's a full roll cage like a race car. But that would likely have been on something a little more suited for timber management. Hope your laundry bill wasn't too high, cause that repair ain't gonna be cheap.

Be careful out there, folks. This looks like another case where a grapple might have made the operator a little overconfident about moving/demolishing things with a loader on a mid-size tractor. It's too easy to make a life altering, if not ending, mistake with a tractor. Pulling is ALWAYS better, and synthetic ropes decelerate a lot better than chains or cables. ALWAYS make sure appropriate safety equipment and guards are in place and functional and be ready for the unexpected. Then, it isn't unexpected.

Most accidents are avoidable. A bit more work with a chainsaw would have probably prevented that incident. If you are working against the clock, plan on another day to make sure you don't take shortcuts and get hurt. Hurrying any tree or tractor work is a recipe for sad singing and slow walking. That tree's obviously been on the ground for a while (bark slipping off) so another day or two wouldn't have hurt a thing.

I'm not criticizing anyone's techniques, just giving some free advice. Advice is worth exactly what you pay for it and how you use it.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I was pushing a downed tree away from a field edge last year and managed to run a branch into the back of the fan and radiator. $$ adds up fast! So far, I haven't managed to injure myself on the tractor...full cab probably helps with that, though.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sometimes just being in proximity is enough with zero tree work…

Once walking with friends a large dead tree decides it’s time to fall… no wind, no earthquake.

Another time with the CAT Dozer going down a path at least 30 feet from a mature Bay Tree and kaboom!

Maybe vibration or the unusual wet week but it toppled from high bank and hit the doze right over my seat with so many green branches all I could see was leaves.

It’s the day my Dozer saved my life… The ROPS is plate steel…

Would not be here had I only been protected my a TLB roll bar…

 

[AndyMA]

Looking at the photo, you'd obviously sawed on it some. Can I ask why you stopped cutting, and where you were trying to push it to from the canopy end? Casual observation tells me you were just trying to break the top out and push it back to the edge of the brush. While much quicker, I think you just found out that not cutting it before pushing on it was definitely not the safest sequence. Just because you think you can move something with the tractor doesn't mean you SHOULD move it without making more manageable pieces.

Rule of thumb that I learned as a kid driving a Cub Farmall: if the piece you are pushing or pulling sideways is more than twice the width of the tractor, and you're not EXACTLY centered, you're flirting with disaster. I balanced that Cub on the two left wheels more than once doing silly things. I know it's a bit of a bother, and will take a little longer, but it's a whole lot safer to move smaller pieces. If the root ball is still attached to that trunk, be extremely careful that the last cut doesn't change the balance and let the trunk stand back up. There's nothing like hearing that "WHOOSH" when a 24 inch tree trunk goes past you. The first cut should have been near the stump. Unless a tree is laying completely on the ground and already detached from the stump, it simply isn't safe to start cutting the top or trying to move it. Big end first, where most of the mass is, and separate it from it's counterweight (root ball).

Glad you dodged the bullet there, or the club as the case may be. This would be one case where a ROPS isn't going to help unless it's a full roll cage like a race car. But that would likely have been on something a little more suited for timber management. Hope your laundry bill wasn't too high, cause that repair ain't gonna be cheap.

Be careful out there, folks. This looks like another case where a grapple might have made the operator a little overconfident about moving/demolishing things with a loader on a mid-size tractor. It's too easy to make a life altering, if not ending, mistake with a tractor. Pulling is ALWAYS better, and synthetic ropes decelerate a lot better than chains or cables. ALWAYS make sure appropriate safety equipment and guards are in place and functional and be ready for the unexpected. Then, it isn't unexpected.

Most accidents are avoidable. A bit more work with a chainsaw would have probably prevented that incident. If you are working against the clock, plan on another day to make sure you don't take shortcuts and get hurt. Hurrying any tree or tractor work is a recipe for sad singing and slow walking. That tree's obviously been on the ground for a while (bark slipping off) so another day or two wouldn't have hurt a thing.

I'm not criticizing anyone's techniques, just giving some free advice. Advice is worth exactly what you pay for it and how you use it.

All the chainsaw work was after the tree bounced onto the tractor. The 2 main trunks were attached to the stump and lying horizontally. When I pushed on it I didn't realize how attached they were.
Yes most accidents are preventable. I have many thousand hours of using heavy equipment without injury and will not be pushing any trees without making sure they aren't still connected. I haven't retrieved the tractor yet. Keep my fingers crossed it isn't to damaged.

Andy

 

[OldPaint]

All the chainsaw work was after the tree bounced onto the tractor. The 2 main trunks were attached to the stump and lying horizontally. When I pushed on it I didn't realize how attached they were.
Yes most accidents are preventable. I have many thousand hours of using heavy equipment without injury and will not be pushing any trees without making sure they aren't still connected. I haven't retrieved the tractor yet. Keep my fingers crossed it isn't to damaged.

Andy

Yep, like I said, saw first, move after. Glad you weren't hurt, and hope the repair bill isn't too much, too. You got a very dangerous reminder about how quickly things can go south on a tractor.

Hindsight's 20/20, but I would have waded into that brush heap and tree-top with chainsaw blazing. I've just got a little LX2610SU, so I probably tend to overkill the prep work before I wade in with that. I have a small 8 inch pole saw adapter for my weed eater that lets me reach in before I walk in (just in case Mr. No-Shoulders is hiding in there). That lets me lay a lot of briars, brush and other stuff down so I can evaluate what I gotta do to get a downed tree ready for removal. If it's just small brush up to 1" in diameter in the way, I also have a Swisher 24" Predator walk-behind brush mower that will chop up anything it can push over. Snakes don't stand a chance with that thing. I'm gathering you decided to just push it out of your pasture to let it rot where it fell (except for the pushing part). An hour of saw work might have saved you some money in the long run, depending on the repairs the tractor needs. Definitely would have saved you the scare. Good luck on the repairs.

 

[Cataclysm]

Glad you are O.K.!!!

Maybe its time for limb risers on tractors if you are doing tree work.

 

[Hayseed Andy]

Jeez Louise!!! That could have been a lot more ugly. Glad it was not

 

[AndyMA]

Checked out damage to tractor. Bent steering wheel & column, dash and believe it or not bucket level indicator. Sure glad I have KTAC. I'll let you know how it goes.

Andy